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Comment: Re:No shit (Score 1) 447

by eggstasy (#43325707) Attached to: HBO Says <em>Game of Thrones</em> Piracy Is "a Compliment"

You have to pay extra to watch Game of Thrones, in America? That's absurd.
TV and Internet here come in the same package, you can't get one without the other, and it's pretty cheap, 100 mbit fiber, includes free calls from your landline and two cellphone to any network in the country + some other countries as well. Free DVR, too, included in your wifi router...
I can't possibly imagine why it would be illegal for me to stream a TV series on the train instead of watching it at home.

Cloud

+ - EU citizens warned not to use US Cloud services over Spying fears->

Submitted by Diamonddavej
Diamonddavej writes "Leading privacy expert, Caspar Bowden, warned European citizens not to use Cloud services hosted in the US over spying fears. Bowden, former privacy adviser to Microsoft Europe, explained at a panel discussion hosted at the recent Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference in Brussels, that a section in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act 2008 (FISAAA) permits US intelligence agencies to access data owned by non-US citizens on Cloud storage hosed by US companies, if their activity is deemed to affect US foreign policy. Bowden claimed the Act allows for purely political spying of activists, protesters and political groups. Bowden also pointed out that amendments to the EU's data protection regulation proposal, introduce specific loopholes that permit FISAAA surveillance. The president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves (at a separate panel discussion) commented that, “If it is a US company it’s the FBI’s jurisdiction and if you are not a US citizen then they come and look at whatever you have if it is stored on a US company server”. The European Data Protection Supervisor declined to comment but an insider indicated that the authority is looking into the matter."
Link to Original Source

+ - Nokia receives $1.35B grant to develop graphene tech->

Submitted by silverpig
silverpig writes "It now appears that graphene has reached a point worthy of serious, direct industrial attention. The grant money itself comes from the European Union for the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET), but that the work will be done by a large non-governmental company with eyes on developing useful real-world applications is encouraging. Smartphones contain many components with high potential for actually making use of graphene — screens, batteries, ICs.

I'm no expert, but I hope that the funding model will ensure the developments remain in the public domain.

"Nokia is leading the electronic firms within the Graphene Flagship Consortium, which includes 73 other companies and academic institutions from a number of mediums. The Finnish handset manufacturer has received a grant of $1.35 billion to research and develop graphene for practical applications, with the European Union for the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) providing the grant itself.""
Link to Original Source
Moon

+ - Foster + Partners and ESA to 3D Print Building on the Moon->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Internationally acclaimed architecture firm Foster + Partners built the Hearst Tower, the Millennium Bridge, and the Gherkin here on earth — and now they're setting their sights on outer space with plans to produce a 3D printed building on the moon. Today the firm announced that it has partnered with the European Space Agency to develop a lunar base for four people that can withstand the threat of meteorites, gamma radiation and temperature fluctuations. Since transporting building materials to space is a challenge, the team is considering using on-site 3D printing as a solution."
Link to Original Source

Comment: Why must everything be true? (Score 1) 386

by eggstasy (#42741417) Attached to: Interviews: Ask James Randi About Investigating the Truth

(Disclaimer: I am not a believer)

Recent studies indicated that the human brain may be hardwired to believe in something supernatural. This may have arisen through evolution - fearing the unknown could have protected early humans from danger, and their haphazard impulse to explain the unexplained, over the course of millenia, may have been at the root of what became science.

Why must everything be "true"? Is anyone seriously being harmed by Uri Geller? He puts on an entertaining act, and some people like it.
Not everyone has to be a scientist. Wouldn't it be the modern and progressive thing to do, showing some tolerance and respect for other people's choices, including fondness of the "mystical" or "spiritual", etc.?

After all, most of us enjoy fiction, and while some might be prone to pointing out inaccuracies, even trained minds can suspend disbelief.
Do bear in mind that the placebo effect is very real. Having "faith", whether it be justified by a belief in higher powers, or mere self-confidence, does wonders for a person's psychological well-being and the psychosomatic implications thereof.

Comment: Been there! (Score 5, Informative) 415

by eggstasy (#42718167) Attached to: Why a Linux User Is Using Windows 3.1

What an interesting question, I've done that before, mostly out of nostalgia. And, of course, frustration with the upgrade treadmill.
There's essentially nothing you can't do with a 16-bit windows, it's what people worked with and played with, so there's a bit of everything .

You should install Win32s, WinG, Video for Windows, Trumpet Winsock.

Honestly I'm surprised you found it hard to track down old software, there's a pretty huge scene around it.
You can get pretty much every OS and application here: http://winworldpc.com/library_m1.shtml
This is also a great site to get old software: http://www.oldversion.com/
Moar: http://wiki.oldos.org/Downloads/Windows3x
http://gaby.de/win3x/esoft.htm

There are some surprisingly modern browsers available for 3.1, grab Opera 3.62 (also Netscape 4 and IE 5.5), and try Calmira for a Win9x type of GUI running under 3.1 - put the default XP wallpaper on that, and you will fool a lot of people :)
I once hacked XP to natively run the NT 3.51 shell on startup, instead of Windows Explorer. It wasn't hard.

DOSBox sucks for Windows, though, you should probably just run a VM, added performance. You can find some Windows games on abandonware sites, Civilization 2 was a good one :)
http://www.gameswin.biz/gameen.php?id=379

Let me know if you need anything else, would love to have a chat with a fellow enthusiast.

Comment: Re:Uhhhh (Score 2) 204

by eggstasy (#42495677) Attached to: What 'Negative Temperature' Really Means

The word "temperature" comes from the Latin "temperatura", which is still the same word in Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. It comes from "temperare", which means "to season" (food). Much like you mix herbs and spices in your food to achieve a desired taste, you mix cold water with hot water to achieve a desired temperature.
Latin is only 2000 years old, I'm sure you could trace it back even further. The Proto-Indo-European root *tep- means "warm" (as in tepid), I'm not a linguist, though.

What's so funny?

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